After a club career which took him to clubs in England, Scotland and the USA, O'Neill returned to Northern Ireland to play for Belfast club Glentoran in 2002Midfielder O'Neill made 31 appearances for Northern Ireland, playing under Billy Bingham and then Bryan HamiltonPortadown man O'Neill was appointed as Nigel Worthington's successor as Northern Ireland manager in December 2011His first match in charge saw Northern Ireland lose 3-0 to Norway in a friendly played at Windsor Park, Belfast, in February 2012Northern Ireland were then beaten 6-0 by the Netherlands in Amsterdam in June 2012O'Neill's first win as NI manager was a 1-0 home win over Fabio Capello's Russia - but it was their only victory in a 10-game qualifying campaign for the 2014 World CupThat World Cup campaign included a 1-0 defeat by Azerbaijan in Baku in which defender Jonny Evans was sent offNiall McGinn was on target as Northern Ireland started their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign with a 2-1 win away to HungaryA 2-0 victory over Greece in Athens made it three wins out of three in Group FAs the push for a place in the France finals intensified, Northern Ireland drew 0-0 at home to qualification rivals RomaniaNorthern Ireland's first-ever appearance at the European finals was secured by a 1-0 home win over GreeceNorthern Ireland lost 1-0 to Poland in their first game at Euro 2016 in NiceManager O'Neill made five changes for the next match and the gamble paid off as Gareth McAuley scored the first in a famous 2-0 win over Ukraine in LyonNorthern Ireland were beaten by Germany in their final Group C game but the narrow 1-0 margin meant they went through to the last 16O'Neill's side missed out on a place in the quarter-finals, losing 1-0 to Gareth Bale's Wales in ParisNorthern Ireland finished second in their qualifying group for the 2018 World Cup and went into a play-off against SwitzerlandThe Swiss went through 1-0 over the two legs thanks to a controversially-awarded penalty during the first match at Windsor ParkHome and away defeats by Austria and Bosnia and Herzegovina left Northern Ireland bottom of the group without a point in the inaugural Uefa Nations LeagueA 1-0 win away to Belarus saw Northern Ireland top their Euro 2020 qualifying group on maximum points after four gamesHowever, defeats at home to Germany and away to the Netherlands derailed O'Neill's hopes of automatic qualification for the European finalsAfter starting his managerial career at Brechin City, O'Neill moved to Shamrock Rovers and led the Dublin club to two League of Ireland titles and the group stage of the 2011/12 Europa League